Page 17 - Acts Student Textbook

From the above summary, it follows that the tongues accomplished two purposes:
First, the hearers were instructed and informed because they could understand the message in their
own language. Second, a miraculous sign confirmed that God was working in these men.

Let’s join the first church service (Peter’s Sermon)! (2:14-36)

Peter stood up with the eleven and began preaching to the people. His purpose, as an introduction,
was to explain to them the cause of the miraculous miracle they were beholding. From this he led
them to a conviction of Jesus as Christ and themselves as sinners in need of Christ. The theme of the
sermon was: Jesus is Lord and Christ, and people are sinners in need of forgiveness (v36).

How do these events fulfill a prophecy from Joel? (2:16-18)

The expression “in the last days” refers to the New Testament or gospel age. See also Heb. 1:1, 2;
9:26; 1 Pet. 1:20; 1 John 2:18; Isaiah 2:2, 3. Note carefully that Peter here clearly states that
Pentecost itself occurred in the last days. The prophecy referred to “the last days,” but was being
fulfilled on Pentecost. Pratte suggests that the “last days” began, apparently, at the death of Jesus
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and will continue till He comes again.”

The prophecy stated that God would pour out of His Spirit on all flesh. The phrase “upon all flesh” is
more limited than it may sound. Surely it does not mean that animal flesh – dogs and cats – would
receive these gifts of the Spirit. Furthermore, it did not mean that all human beings would receive
gifts from the Holy Spirit. Surely no one who refused to obey the gospel would receive them.
The gifts of the Spirit were poured out on “all flesh” in the sense that all types of people received the
power (as described in v17, 18), including both Jews and Gentiles (see also Acts 10 & 11; Luke 3:6
John 17:2; 1 Pet. 1:24; cf. Rom. 3:20; 1 Cor. 1:29; Gal. 2:16).

The prophecy of Joel began to be fulfilled at Pentecost. Peter is not necessarily saying the whole
fulfillment occurred then and only then. But what was happening was one instance that fulfilled the
prediction.

Note also that the Holy Spirit gave gifts for the purpose of revealing God’s will to man. They were a
source of knowledge and information. The purpose was not a moral compulsion that automatically
changed people’s moral nature so they could not sin, as some denominations claim today. Having
received the revelation, the person had to study it to choose for themselves whether or not to obey
it, just as the listeners had to do.

Proper understanding will show that the Spirit is not poured out in verses 17,18. Note that the
prophecy said, “I will pour out of My Spirit.” In both v17 and v18 the text contains a word meaning
“of” (apo). This word means, in this case, “from” (see NKJV interlinear and Marshall’s Interlinear).
V18 should be translated the same as v17 (see ASV, KJV, NASB and the NKJV interlinear, which shows
that the NKJV is inconsistent here). And neither verse says the Holy Spirit was poured out. It says God
poured something out “of” or “from” the Spirit. What was poured out “from” the Spirit was the gifts
or miraculous powers described in the prophecy.

What does it mean that “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”? (2:21)

Because of the weight of this verse, we need to break it down to four phrases to help us understand
a little bit more.

12 Pratte, (p. 31).
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